Finishing a cedar fence and garage door

[coliholic]

Built a fence and garage door from western red cedar and jolly good it looks too, really pleased with it. Just got to "paint" it and it'll be finished. Been trying all sorts of stuff, Sikkens, Ronseal, fence paint, yot varnish, Sadolin etc and finally settled on a Sadolin clear. Ideally looking for something that changes the cedar to the rich colour it becomes when wet and the Sadolin's close enough. Close but not exactly what I'm after but it'll have to do. Or anyone any other suggestions?

Anyway on to the real question.

After the rain we had last week I noticed that the end grain of the cedar cladding has absorbed and wicked up the water and quite badly stained the boards. I know when I come to "paint" the boards I can really let the "paint" wick into the end grain, but thought it'd be better to seal the end grain too. So how to do that?

So I'm looking for some brown or wood grain effect, plastic U channel with the U 15mm wide and the upstands say 10mm though not too critical and I'll then silicone the channel to the end grain of the cladding. Job's a good 'un eh?

But I can't find it anywhere. Tried all the sheds and Jewsons, Screwfix, Travis Perkins and a couple of other builders merchants and on the web. Best I can find is B&Q but in white at £3 metre (gulp) or from the web some place in Cornwall but they only do white or black and their minimum order is 75 metres and I only need 24 metres of it. Another place in Stevenage offered the perfect teak effect. Minimum order 1,000 metres.

So any of you geniuses got any ideas where I might buy say 20 metres from?

 

[foxhole]

Selco had something like that for edging polycarbonate sheeting, 2mtr lengths , can't remember the price though.

 

[^woody^]

The detailing is important to stop this type of staining, so be sure that whatever you propose covers the board ends (and the face near the ends) and does not allow any significant rain to get into this channel - or if designed to let rain in, keep the channel clear of the board ends so that the rain runs down the channel and out at the bottom

 

[festive]

I gather you have ensured all your fixings are stainless?

Also with regards to painting, i had exactly the same dilema as you, i opted for Dulux Naked wood, a 2 stage treatment, was supposed to give 4/5 years of fade prevention to the Cedar, lasted about 2.
Spoke to Dulux and they said i should of used Sikkens Filter 7 and sent me some free vouchers to cover 2x5litres tins(about 100quid each!)
I used teak finish to try n restore the colour, and painted over the top but it's left them looking more pine orangy colour oh *******s. Perhaps i should of sanded them properly first.

So anyway make sure whatever you put on offers good UV protection against fading, that's if you like they colour it is currently!